Toy parachute



May 24, `1960 A, w. LAMB 2,937,474

TOY PARACHUTE Filed Aug 15' 1957 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 INVENTOR. Alan W. Lamb A. w. LAMB Toy PARACHUTE May 24, 1960 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed Aug. 16, 1957 INVENTOR. Alan W. Lamb Attorneys lUnited States Patent() TOY PARACHUTE Alan W. Lamb, P.O. Box 324, Boulder, Colo.

Filed Aug. 16, 1957, Ser. No. 678,705

4 claims. (Cl. 46-s6) This invention relates to improvements in toy parachutes,'and pertains especially to a toy parachute of the type illustrated and described in my issued Letters Patent of the United States, No. 2,761,242, dated September 4, 1956, namely a structure providing a rigid rod to thel upper end of which there is attached the apical portion of a parachute cloth, and having radial struts connecting the skirting rim of such cloth to the rod at spaced intervals about the circumference thereof. The connections between such struts and ,the rod are pivot connections located at or about the mid-height of the rod, and it is a characteristic of these pivot connections that the same restrict the struts to vertical swinging motion between two extremes the lower of which places the outer ends of the struts proximate to but spaced from the rod and the upper of which places the struts approximately at right angles to the rod. At the lower end of the rod there are provided a plurality of radially disposed stabilizing ns spaced equidistantly at intervals of the circumference. The parachute is launched by means of a slingshot which engages a hook formed upon the rod vat the extreme upper end thereof.

It is one object of the invention to provide a toy parachute having the recited characteristics and which is engineered in a manner enabling the same to be economically produced and which will withstand a reasonable amount of hard usage without being subject to breakage.

As a further important object the invention aims to provide a toy parachute in which the stabilizing. fins are detachably mounted in order that such fins may be packaged at and thus permit the parachute to be marketed in a compact condition.

The invention has the yet further object of providing a perfected slingshot, one particularly which permits au ordinary heavy-duty rubber band to be employed as the catapult agent and which enables such band to be replaced with ease and expedition should the same become broken in use.

The foregoing and still additional objects and advantages in view will appear and be understood in the course of the following description and claims, the invention consisting in the novel construction and in the adaptation and combination of parts hereinafter described and claimed.

In the accompanying drawings:

Figure 1 is an elevational View of the toy with the parachute cloth collapsed.

Fig. 2 is an elevational view with parts in section taken from a vantage point substantially at right angles to that of Fig. l, with the stabilizing ns removed and the parachute cloth shown fragmentarily and in section.

Fig. 3 is a fragmentary vertical sectional view drawn to an enlarged scale on line 3 3 of Fig. 2. Y

Fig. 4 is `a horizontal sectional view on line'4--4 of Fig. 3.

Fig. 5 is a fragmentary horizontal sectional view drawn to an enlarged scale on line 5-5 of Fig. 1.

fi ICC Fig. 7 is a perspective view portraying the manner in which the parachute is shot into the air..

Fig. 8 is a fragmentary vertical sectional view drawn to an enlarged scale on line 8-8 of Fig. 7 to detail the slingshot, or more especially the manner -in which the rubber band is anchored tothe handle.

Fig. 9 is a horizontal sectional view on line 9-9 of Fig. 8.

Fig. 10 is a fragmentary elevational view detailing the root end of one of the stabilizing fins.

Fig. 11 is Ia. vertical sectional view detailing the slidably mountedV cap which acts in conjunction with a footpiece permanently attached to Ythe rod to releasably secure the stabilizing fins to the rod; and

Fig. 12 is a fragmentary elevational view illustrating a modified type of strut.

The present invention comprises a parachute cloth designated by the numeral 20, a rod 21 cemented by its upper end to the apical portion of said parachute Acloth and connected to the skirting rim of said cloth by struts 22 which attach to the rod at or'about the mid-length thereof, stabilizing fins 23 secured to the rod at the lower end thereof, and a slingshot 24 for launching the parachute into the air, said slingshot providing a rubber band 25 which engages a hook 26 formed upon the rod at the extreme upper end thereof.

In its preferred embodiment the rod is composed of two connected in-line hollow sections 30-31'having plugs 32 and 33 cemented or otherwise lived to the upper and lower ends, respectively. The hook 26 is made a part of such plug 32, and such plug also presents a flange 34 to which the parachute cloth is cemented. The plug 313 provides a crowned base in which there are formed three upwardly facing pockets 34 spaced equidistantly at intervals of the circumference, and arranged to iit in each of these pockets is a downwardly directed tab 35 formed upon a respective one of the three stabilizing fins 23 at the rlower end of the root edge thereof. Each such iin also provides an upwardly directed tab 36 at the upper end of its root edge, and these latter tabs are arranged to be caught in the downwardly facing annular pocket 37 of a cap 38 which is mounted for sliding movement upon the rod section 31. As can be best seen from an inspection of Fig. 5, the normally straight tabs (co-planar with the fins) are caused to be moderately twisted by lodging the lower tabs 35 into the arcuate lower pockets 34 and then pressing the cap down over the upper tabs 36, and this twisting imposes suicient friction upon such cap to hold the same firmly in place.

The connector between said rod sections 30-31comprises a member providing oppositely directed studs 40 and 41 one of which is cemented in the upper end of the lower rod section 31 and the other of which is cemented in the lower end of the upper rod section 30. Between the two studs the member is crowned to provideva cylindrical rim 42 encircling an upwardly facing annular pocklet 43, and as a complement to such crown there is provided 'a collar 44. The collar is cemented in place with its upper face shouldering against the rod section 30 and its lower face bearing -against the rim 42 as a closure for the pocket 43. Such rim and the iloor of the pocket are radially slotted at intervals of lthe circumference.

The slots are designated by 45. The afore-mentioned' struts 22 work in these slots. The crown prominence, with its capping collar 44, produces that which in effect is a substantial cage, and provided upon the root ends of the struts so as to conne the root ends within the cage are T-heads 46. Forks 47 are provided upon the free ends of the struts, and the skirting rim of the parachute cloth is releasably attached to said free ends of the struts Patented May 2 4, 1960` by gathering a short length of such skirting rim and catching the same in the slot of the concerned fork. The parachute cloth is or may have a rectangular plan configuration with each of the four corners being caught in the slot of a related one of the four struts.

All of the described parts, other than the parachute cloth, are or may be composed of plastic, and I have illustrated in Fig. 12 a modified form of strut in which the same is composed of a somewhat more limber plastic than the struts '22. In this arrangement, a one-piece rod 50 is employed and in lieu of the cage there is cemented upon the rod a ring 51 and a cap 52, with the cap spaced a moderate distance above the ring. The struts, designated by 53, have their root ends cemented under the encircling rim of the cap and project downwardly therefrom to normally shoulder against the top edge of the ring. In this position, which is illustrated by full lines in Fig. 12, the free ends of the struts lie proximate to but are spaced from the rod. When the parachute cloth is distended by pressure of air caught under the same as the toy descends after being shot aloft, the struts assume the curved position shown by broken lines in Fig. 12.

As can be seen from an inspection of Fig. 3 the cage 42-44 is so designed that the struts 22 have a limited upward swing travel preventing the parachute from opening beyond the fully distended condition in which it is shown in Fig. 6, or of closing so completely that air will not readily enter and billow the parachute cloth as the toy starts to descend after being sent aloft.

While the free ends of the struts 22 lay more or less flat against the rod during the Slingshot-propelled ascent of the toy, in that the inherent spring characteristic of the plastic composing the struts permits the same to bend inwardly in a moderate degree, this spring characteristic is advantageous in that it snaps the free ends of the struts outwardly when such struts are relieved of the force of passing air. The parachute cloth thus balloons itself more or less instantly upon the initiation of the toys descent.

The Slingshot 24 for the parachute provides a handle which is adapted to be gripped by the user. This handle is comprised of a tube 54 having a anged plug 55 slidably fitted in the upper end. Such plug has a throughbore 56, and in the outer surface presents a fiat 57. To attach the elastic band to the handle, the plug is removed from the tube and one end of the band is drawn through the bore 56 and doubled back over the flat, following which the plug is reinserted in the tube which perforce acts to compress such doubled-back portion between the fiat and the inner wall of the tube. The frictional grip of the rubber against the two surfaces between which it is compressed releasably holds both the elastic band and the plug firmly in place. This arrangement is particularly advantageous in that a broken band can be reused simply by reversing the ends, and which is to say catching the broken ends between the fiat 57 and the inner wall of the tube. Said tube 54 and plug 55, like the described rods, the fittings thereon, the struts, and the fins, are or may be composed of plastic.

It is thought that the invention will have been clearly understood from the foregoing detailed description of my now-preferred illustrated embodiments. Minor changes will suggest themselves and may be resorted to without departing from the spirit of the invention, wherefor it is my intention that the hereto annexed claims be given the broadest interpretation to which the employed language fairly admits.

What I claim is:

1. A toy parachute comprising a rod presenting at its upper end a hook adapted to be engaged by a Slingshot for sending the parachute aloft, a parachute cloth having its apical portion attached to the rod immediately below said hook, and a plurality of radially disposed struts 1ocated at circumferentially spaced intervals about the rod having their inner ends so attached to the rod at a localized point thereon spaced a substantial distance below said apical attachment of the parachute as will permit the struts to swing vertically from a lowered inactive position into a raised operating position whereat the struts lie approximately normal to the rod, said struts having their outer ends attached to the rim of the parachute cloth, a foot-piece on the lower end of the rod formed to provide an upwardly facing annular pocket surrounding the rod, a cap member slidably mounted upon the lower end of the rod above said foot-piece and formed to present an annular pocket surrounding the rod and disposed in facing relation to the first-named pocket, and radial fins detachably secured to the lower end of the rod at circumferentially spaced intervals thereof for stabilizing the same, said tins being provided at the upper and lower ends of their root edges with tabs which are directed upwardly and downwardly, respectively, and which are frictionally gripped in said pockets of the cap member and the foot-piece.

2. A toy parachute comprising a rod presenting at its upper' end a hook adapted to be engaged by a Slingshot for sending the parachute aloft, a parachute cloth having its apical portion attached to the rod immediately below said hook, and a plurality of radially disposed struts located at circumferentially spaced intervals about the rod having their inner ends so attached to the rod at a localized point thereon spaced a substantial distance be` low said apical attachment of the parachute as will permit the struts to swing vertically from a lowered inactive position into a raised operating position whereat the struts lie approximately normal to the rod, said struts having their outer ends attached to the rim of the parachute cloth, the root ends of the struts presenting T-heads, the attachment between the struts and the rod comprising a cage surrounding the rod at the approximate mid-length thereof with the T-heads being confined within said cage and the struts being guided for vertical swinging motion in slots provided in the confining side wall of said cage.

3. A toy parachute comprising a rod weighted at the lower end thereof, and at a point intermediate its ends having a cage surrounding the rod, a plurality of struts extending radially from the rod at spaced intervals of the circumference providing upon the root ends T-heads which are confined within said cage, said cage providing vertical slots in the confining side wall guiding the struts for limited vertical swinging motion from a lowered inactive position into a raised active position whereat the struts lie approximately normal to the rod, and a parachute cloth attached by its apical portion to the upper end of the rod and having its skirting rim connected to the outer ends of the struts.

4. Structure according to claim 3, said rod being comprised of two connected in-line tubular sections, the cage occupying an intervening position between such sections and presenting oppositely directed stud portions which t in the proximal ends of the rod sections for connecting the sectionsV together.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 858,689 Varner July 2, 1907 2,244,342 Mahlck June 3, 1941 2,284,371 Crary May 26, 1942 2,367,249 Walker Jan. 16, 1945 2,761,242 Lamb Sept. 4, 1956 

